The Political and Economic Consequences of Populist Rule in Latin America

Christian Houle, Paul D. Kenny

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    89 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    While populist rule has become increasingly prevalent in the developing world, much of our knowledge about its implications remains anecdotal and contradictory. In this article, we conduct the most comprehensive large-N cross-national test of the consequences of populist rule to date. Using data on 19 Latin American states, we find that populism's implications are mostly negative: (1) populist regimes tend to Erode institutional and legal constraints on executive authority; (2) participation rates are not higher under populist governments or for populist campaigners; and (3) populist rule, even under left-wing populists, is not associated with more redistribution than non-populist democratic rule. We perform instrumental variable estimations and a quasi-experimental analysis to address the potential endogeneity of populism.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)256-287
    Number of pages32
    JournalGovernment and Opposition
    Volume53
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2018

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The Political and Economic Consequences of Populist Rule in Latin America'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this